יום שני, כ״ח תמוז תשפ״וMonday, July 13, 2026
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He also longed for the children he had left behind in Poland and therefore returned to Poland, albeit with a love for Eretz Yisrael that he carried with him until his death.
Leeser's work, therefore, no doubt helped combat the influence of missionaries and Christian Bibles.
Many of our greatest artists have produced striking graphic works on these subjects, and I present here a selection of original artwork from my Shavuot collection.
The earthquake that devastated Tzfat in 1837 put an abrupt end to Back's activities in Tzfat, but by 1841, we find him in Jerusalem, where he founded the first Hebrew printing press in the city, with the support of Sir Moses Montefiore.
Although Eisner later wrote many comics featuring overtly Jewish characters, “The Spirit” (which was created at a time when clearly identifying the religious affiliation of leading comic book characters was strongly disfavored) was not explicitly so.
By Judy Waldman
It is impressive to see the standing room only crowd on Shabbos.
I’m a lover of Yiddish, read some every week, and believe in its future, though that’s a complex subject.
In the early days of the chassidic movement, as well as in Kabbalistic circles, sitting for a portrait was often frowned upon and sometimes even forbidden.
Although Rubinstein’s maternal grandparents, with whom he and his family lived in Lodz, were strictly Orthodox, his parents were not, and he received little religious education, despite the plethora of Jewish schools in Lodz.
In On the Jewish Question, Marx contemptuously criticized Judaism (and, to a lesser extent, Christianity) from the standpoint of social emancipation, regarding Jews as the embodiment of capitalism and the creators of its evils.
The study and teaching of Jewish history established his own Jewish identity and constituted for him the ultimate proxy for Judaism itself.
Zishe’s parents wanted him to learn a trade, but wherever he was apprenticed, his masters took advantage of him by using his strength for business and taught him nothing.
Although not observant, Ramon understood his role as Israel’s first space diplomat. During the mission, he ate only kosher food, made Kiddush Friday night, and recited Shema Yisrael as the shuttle flew over Jerusalem.
After the Holocaust, chalitzah complications also arose since many widows had no information on the status or whereabouts of their brothers-in-law.
[I]n every generation, our enemies stand up against us to destroy us, but G-d always saves us from their hands.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a British writer best known for his iconic Sherlock Holmes detective stories, but he was also a physician (Holmes was modeled after his former university teacher, Joseph Bell) and a prolific writer in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, humor, romance, poetry, theater, history, historical fiction, medicine, politics, architecture, and […]
However, Hitler’s rise to power presented a great challenge to Einstein who, though a pacifist, understood that to prevent war, it was sometimes necessary to use force, especially against a threat as monumental as that posed by the Nazis.
By Judy Waldman
It was time to not just start a new synagogue, it was time to create an atmosphere that assured that davening with kavanah was an attainable goal.
Secular educational experts argue that the state has the right – indeed, the duty – to prepare children to become responsible members of a democratic society, based upon Jewish values, including dignity, tolerance and love for the land of Israel.
It was customary to hang decorations such as yours on the synagogue wall at the start of the month of Adar, and for them to be taken down once the Purim holiday concluded.
Much like the leadership of the Zionist Entity today, Haman came up with a dastardly plan to destroy...every living Palestinian.
In his memoir, Asimov writes that although he was never physically abused for being Jewish, he was occasionally attacked verbally by anti-Semitic “louts,” which he accepted as just the nature of things and deemed himself powerless to change.
Purim celebrations in Tel Aviv, which began in 1908, were the largest public events in Eretz Yisrael during the British Mandate period and an important exemplar of Jewish culture. The sometimes outrageous carnivals became both a source of pride to the citizens of Tel Aviv and a broader demonstration of the accomplishments and capabilities of […]
Charles Lindbergh (1902-74) earned worldwide fame for making the first solo, non-stop flight across the Atlantic on “The Spirit of St. Louis” in 1927. When “Lucky Lindy” returned from Paris, thousands of New Yorkers welcomed him with a ticker-tape parade and a celebration reportedly unparalleled in the city’s history. His public stature following this historic […]
The fate of the Exodus and its crew commanded international attention, and journalists who covered the dramatic struggle described to the entire world the brutality of the British.
By Judy Waldman
This time period covered the sons of Baron Hirsch members serving in wars, including the American Civil War, the Spanish American War, World Wars and I & II, and the Korean War.
If I were to walk into a retail store, I doubt I could purchase your chanukiah for anything less than $5,000.
Teddy Roosevelt became the first president known to donate personal funds to a Jewish cause.
In the early days of the chassidic movement, as well as in Kabbalistic circles, sitting for a portrait was often frowned upon and sometimes even forbidden.
After its 1949 elections, Israel filed yet a third application for membership, and this time the request was approved by the Security Council by a 9-1 vote on March 4, 1949.
By Judy Waldman
The Sisterhood arrived at the decision to create the “Young Ladies’ Club of Congregation B’nai Israel," where there would be interesting activities for young women in their late teens and twenties.
Incredibly, five of the original signatories to the Buttonwood Agreement were Jews, all members of Shearith Israel.
Recent studies indicate that Lie and the American government played a more important role in the armistice negotiations than previously understood.
By Sandy Eller
“We created a full beit medrash and kollel where we are building future rabbis and community leaders,” said Meirov. “The future is looking very bright.”
By Judy Waldman
Although some Memphis Jews were slaveholders and slave traders, they mostly favored secession primarily due to their Southern acculturation rather than by the defense of slavery.
The constant upheaval, violent persecution and expulsion of various Jewish communities in Europe has had an acute effect on extant Jewish ritual objects.
In the early days of the chassidic movement, as well as in Kabbalistic circles, sitting for a portrait was often frowned upon and sometimes even forbidden.
While the Vaad Halashon and others supported Amikam’s letter to the British and sought financial support from the Zionist Organization, the response was, at best, lukewarm...
Despite his own many accomplishments as a novelist, poet, composer, and musician, Max Brod (1884-1968) is perhaps best known as Kafka’s friend, supporter, and patron.
Luke, who previously served as Great Britain’s Governor of Jerusalem, thought he could nip the violence in its bud by summoning Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, admonishing him for the rioting, and ordering him to cease and desist.
Many commentators characterize Straus’ appointment as a key early step in the depoliticization of the diplomatic service and its rendering as a true meritocracy.
Given the centrality of Torah study to Jewish life... it is not surprising that Jewish artists have frequently featured it in their work.
Editor’s note: Antique Judaica Roadshow will appear monthly. We encourage readers to email pictures of their Judaica to Tsadik Kaplan at tsadik613@gmail.com. He may choose to assess your antiques in his future columns. Perhaps the most ubiquitous piece of Jewish ritual art in our society is the menorah. The Chanukah menorah as we know […]
Although some argue Bush’s foreign policy was a complex mix of support and opposition to Israel’s foreign policy, a strong case can be made that the Bush administration was the most hostile to Israel in American history – until Barack Obama indisputably seized the presidential anti-Israel crown.
By Rhona Lewis
In recent years, Shavei Israel has facilitated the immigration and absorption of 3,500 Bnei Menashe Jews from India.
Raphall emphasized that the “slave,” in whom vests fundamental human dignity, must be served the best food and, if there is only one mattress, the slave gets it and the Jewish owner must sleep on the floor.
It is also broadly credited with playing an important role in turning American public opinion against England and forcing the British to end the Palestine Mandate and to withdraw from Eretz Yisrael.
As Israel’s fourth president, he used his personal standing and the prestige of his office to galvanize academics to address the danger of assimilation in Diaspora communities.
The fascinating story about how the name “Israel” came to be written on the document signed by Truman recognizing the new Jewish state is broadly known, but few know that the handwriting on that historic document is Elath’s.
Though a vicious civil war divided nationalist Ukrainians, Bolsheviks, and anti-Bolsheviks, they were somehow able to unite in committing atrocities against Ukraine’s one million Jews.
A great champion of Israel throughout his professional life, Robert F. Kennedy supported Jews and the Jewish State from an early age. While a student at Harvard, he dared to challenge Father Leonard Feeney, an influential Jesuit priest and Jew-baiting demagogue who had written that it is impossible “for an individual Jew to scrap his […]
People from various communities in the Diaspora are asking me to amend the prayer for the well-being of the state and its leaders.
In one of the great ironies of Jewish history, the much-beloved Israeli national anthem was written by Naftali Herz Imber (1856-1909), a complex and deeply flawed vagabond, drunkard, and buffoon known as “the King of Jewish Bohemia in America.” Imber, who was born into a strictly Orthodox chassidic family in Galici, was deemed an ilui […]
The United States Postal Service is compensated for servicing these mails through annual tax-funded appropriations; in other words, you, the citizen, are paying for it.
Nonetheless, to his political enemies – and there were many – his very name was an anathema.
At a time when Maryland Jews lacked even the most basic civil rights, including the right to vote, Reuben Etting (1762-1848) joined many Colonial American Jews in assuming the responsibilities of full citizenship by enlisting and fighting in the Revolutionary Army. After serving as an officer during the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794-95, he joined the […]
The “Einstein letter” to which Teller refers is undoubtedly one of the most important and consequential letters in human history.
The Jewish spirit lives in every branch of life and the Jewish heart palpates everywhere.
In honor of Sukkos, The Jewish Press decided to feature pictures of six of the winning designs.
The rights Rosen won for Jews included the right to emigrate, and he oversaw a tremendous exodus of some 400,000 Romanian Jews to Eretz Yisrael and elsewhere.
In Levy’s drawing, the children do not seem particularly enamored by having a chicken waived over their heads, as the boy seems to be shielding his eyes and the little girl seems to be recoiling in horror.
Broadly heralded as the contemporary embodiment of the Maccabees, some 30,000 Jewish volunteers from Eretz Yisrael served with the British Army during World War II, and more than 700 were killed in active duty.
However, the main target in Lauder’s piece was “the Orthodox,” who he paints with one brush, as if there are not huge differences within Israel’s vibrant modern Orthodox, nationalist religious Zionist and charedi communities.
Sempo Sugihara, the Japanese consul, on his own initiative, decided to reverse a long standing policy of the Japanese government which had closed its country’s doors to Jews.
By Sandy Eller
Because only 100 passengers from any one ship are allowed on shore at any one time, visitors to the Frozen Continent will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities during its mildest time of year when temperatures average approximately 34 degrees.
This protest became the first time in Israeli history that demonstrators interrupted a Knesset session seeking to overturn a democratically made Knesset decision.
Some Rishonim write that one may speak lashon hara to prevent potential damage or injury.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into; I had joined a Holocaust family and jumped through the rabbit hole.
I desperately want [my wife] and I to grow old together, to be with my family and friends, and to watch my grandchildren grow up,"
His multi-lingual immigrant community, a paradigm of the American melting pot (including Russian Jews), provided a virtual cornucopia of languages, dialects, accents, intonations, and vernaculars that supplied a rich and abundant source of material for the prospective voice actor.
Interestingly, among the unreleased hostages were Rav Yitzchak Hutner, the former Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Rabbi Chaim Berlin in New York and author of Pachad Yitzchak, and members of his family, who were on their way from Israel back to America.
By Ann Goldberg
Most of the Jews could have been saved if the government had really wanted to protect them.
Menahem Mendel Beilis (1874-1934) was a Russian Jew accused of ritual murder in the “Beilis Affair,” an infamous Russian anti-Semitic trial reminiscent of the better-known Dreyfus Affair. The case was unusual in that this particular blood libel – the fabrication that originated in Western Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries claiming that Jews murdered […]
By Sandy Eller
Renewal never recruits potential donors, but when calls come in from those contemplating kidney donation, they answer questions and put callers in touch with previous givers.
His ultimate goal was to ensure that every young man would benefit from our mesorah in order to ensure the continuity of Am Yisrael, the revival of Torah learning.
Dreyfus was one of some 50,000 attendees at Zola’s funeral in the Montmartre Cemetery. He remained deeply grateful to Zola and apparently never forgot his benefactor.
That Freud was Jewish is universally recognized. Not as well known is his strong and proud self-identification as a Jew. Freud was also very interested in Jewish history and, in his final and perhaps most controversial work, Moses and Monotheism (published in 1939), he engages in an intriguing attempt to apply psychoanalytic principles to the […]
One of the most colorful, albeit largely unknown, characters in contemporary Jewish history is Morris (Moishe) Abraham “Two-Gun” Cohen (1887-1970), a.k.a. “the uncrowned Jewish king of China.” Cohen was a Jewish adventurer who, as aide-de-camp to Sun Yat-sen and the only Jewish major-general in the Chinese National Revolutionary Army, played an influential role in both […]
Einstein once declared that while Beethoven “created” his music, Mozart's “was so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master.”
Sousa’s respect and affection for Liebling may explain why, for his time, the fiercely patriotic bandleader had a rather enlightened view of Jewish immigrants to the United States.
They could view articles of Eastern craftsmanship, including Hebron glassware, Jerusalem pottery, Nazareth lace, Palestinian olive wood, and other locally manufactured products, including soap from the renowned Shemen company.
Zionist leader, Yiddishist, journalist, and Jewish theoretician and philosopher Nathan Birnbaum (1864-1937), who sometimes used the pseudonyms “Mattisyahu Ascher” or “Mathias Acher,” is one of the most important Zionists you probably never heard of. He is most famous for coining the terms "Zionism" (in 1890) and “political Zionism” (in 1892). His life, which was one […]
Though Roth passionately rejected categorization as a “Jewish-American writer,” it is indisputable that a primary focus of his work was to brazenly, even defiantly, explore American life through a distinctly Jewish lens.
It added that Jews had the right to “free access to the Western Wall for the purpose of devotions at all times.”
Despite the difficult conditions in Shanghai, and the oppressive climate, they lived a “normal” life.
Yet he argued that while Zionism was an important cause in the aftermath of the Holocaust, it had become irrelevant – indeed, it was now a “regressive ideology” – because, he claimed, there was no longer any foreseeable threat of anti-Semitism.
This correspondence stands as one of the most brilliant and eloquent presentations of Jewish history, and perhaps the grandest exposition of the Zionist right to Eretz Yisrael, that I have ever seen.
I love how Yossi Klein Halevi described it: "The image endures, in part, because of the humility it conveys..."
Even the title of Catch-22 has a conspicuously Jewish angle: it was originally written as Catch-18 because the number 18 (“chai,” or “life”), which has special meaning in Judaism, was relevant to early drafts of the novel, which had a greater and clearer Jewish emphasis.
Best known for his technical mastery and emotional playing, Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) was one of the 20th century’s most distinguished violinists (as well as one of the wealthiest – in the late 1920s he was the highest paid musician in the world). He was also an eminent conductor, an organizer of music festivals, a utopian […]
The elections to the Constituent Assembly, which twice had to be canceled, were eventually held on January 25, 1949, with an impressive 87 percent of eligible voters going to the polls.
Weizmann’s role as a founding father of the State of Israel is well known; less known is his role as a scientist – specifically as a pioneering biochemist.
It is difficult to pin down who created the first Braille Haggadah and when.
Rav Ashkenazi knew that the Shanghai community needed rabbinic guidance, so he changes his plans.
Jacob Baal-Teshuva, an authority on Marc Chagall and one of the most distinguished international editors, appraisers, and critics of modern and contemporary art, served as the editor of The Mission of Israel, a collection of essays on the importance and centrality of the Jewish state. In this April 19, 1961 response to Baal-Teshuva’s solicitation of […]
More than 40 years after his death, Robeson retains his status as an American cultural and political icon, but he also leaves behind a sad legacy as a hero who betrayed his Jewish friends.
Herzl never set foot again in Eretz Yisrael during his lifetime, but he did return decades after his death in 1904 at the tragically young age of 44.
In the summer of 1798, Napoleon conquered Egypt and, leading an army through the Sinai Peninsula into Eretz Yisrael, took control of Jaffa and commenced a siege of Acre (1799), hoping to provoke a Syrian insurgence against the Ottomans and threaten British rule in India.
July 10, 2026 
